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Monday, August 15, 2011,
Commissioners met in regular session with
Chairman Ron Smith, Commissioner Dan Dinning,
and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.
Commissioner Kirby called in to say he would be
late to the meeting.
County resident Channing
Nagel joined the meeting.
9:00 a.m., Road and Bridge
Superintendent Jeff Gutshall joined the meeting
to give the departmental report. Mr. Gutshall
presented a written report.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to go out for bid for asphalt paving on
Blume Hill Road.
Chairman Smith yielded the chair to second.
Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Gutshall said chip
sealing started today and Road and Bridge began
with Parker
Canyon. Other roads included are Cow
Creek and Riverside
Road. Mr. Gutshall
said his records show that Cow Creek was last
chip sealed in year 2000.
Mr. Gutshall said Road and
Bridge has done some patching on Farm to
Market Road
and he believes most of that road has been done.
County
Mapper Tom Ulappa joined the meeting
at 9:10 a.m.
Those present discussed
work associated with the
Deep Creek
Bridge projects and the request for
a temporary foot bridge during construction for
nearby neighbors.
Mr. Gutshall said he has
received the State/Local Agreements for repairs
to Deep Creek Loop for sloughing and Lion’s
Den Road as these
projects had been caused by heavy spring
precipitation. Commissioners had the documents
forwarded to Attorney Robinson for review prior
to signing.
9:15 a.m., Commissioner Walt Kirby
joined the meeting.
Commissioners and Mr.
Gutshall discussed Idaho Transportation
Department (ITD) funding appropriation for the
projects related to the spring runoff emergency.
Commissioner Dinning moved
sign the Local Federal Aid Project Request,
State/Local Agreements and any related documents
pertaining to Project #ER11-1 (Old US Hwy 2/Deep
Creek Loop and Project #ER11-2 (West Side
Rd/Lions Den) subject to the County Attorney’s
approval. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion
passed unanimously.
Mr. Gutshall spoke to
Commissioners about facts pertaining to the cost
of chip-sealing and how many miles of road that
covered in year 1999 versus current day prices.
Mr. Gutshall said this new chip seal lasts
longer and he feels he can stretch the life of
it.
Chairman Smith said he got
a call from County resident Dan Meeker asking
what could be done about an easement on
Lannigan Road.
Chairman Smith said Mr. Meeker gave an easement
to the County, but if it was not needed he would
like the County to abandon it. Chairman Smith
said he knows of the area in question and he
mentioned the possible confusion when a County
road splits off onto a private road. It was said
if a road is abandoned, half of the access goes
to each adjoining property owner on each side of
the road. Mr. Gutshall said when the County
abandons the road, the property reverts to the
property where it originally came from.
Commissioner Dinning asked Mr. Gutshall if he
would have a problem abandoning that access and
Mr. Gutshall said no. Chairman Smith asked if
Mr. Ulappa could look into the legal
description. Commissioner Dinning said the
County needs to protect the property owners
along the road up to that point. Mr. Ulappa said
he would find out how the easement was conveyed.
Mr. Ulappa and Mr. Gutshall
left at 9:30 a.m.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to sign the Professional Services Agreement with
Kimley-Horn and Associates and any related
documents as it pertains to the environmental
study for the Boundary
County Airport.
Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed
unanimously.
9:30 a.m., Commissioners contacted
Attorney Phil Robinson via telephone for the
following executive session.
9:33 a.m., Commissioner
Dinning moved to go into executive session under
Idaho Code #67-2345(1)F, To communicate with
legal counsel for the public agency to discuss
the legal ramifications of and legal options for
pending litigation. Commissioner Kirby second.
Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman Smith
“yes”, Commissioner Dinning “yes”, and
Commissioner Kirby “yes”. Motion passed
unanimously. 10:05 a.m., Commissioner Dinning moved to go out of
executive session. Commissioner Kirby second.
Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman Smith
“yes”, Commissioner Dinning “yes”, and
Commissioner Kirby “yes”. Motion passed
unanimously.
10:10
a.m., Kootenai National Wildlife
Refuge Manager Dianna Ellis and Administrative
Assistant Talina Richards joined the meeting to
provide Commissioners with an update on the
draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and
Environmental Assessment (CCP/EA). Ms. Ellis
said she wanted to let Commissioners know the
revised CCP is out for public comment again and
the draft can also be found on CD. Changes have
been made to the original draft CCP since there
had been concerns about hunting. Ms. Ellis
discussed having more plots and doing more with
wetlands. Ms. Ellis said there is a team of
people working on the CCP/EA and some members on
the team wanted to decrease the number of
waterfowl hunting days as they thought more rest
days would provide a higher quality waterfowl
hunt. Based on public comment, the number of
waterfowl hunting days was kept at four days.
Ms. Ellis said there has
been discussion about decreasing the size of the
waterfowl hunting area and she explained the
reason for the decrease is that on the southern
end of the refuge are the Deep Creek trails and
hunters would sit on the dike and hunt. The
Refuge is looking to eliminate big game hunting
along Westside road as it is a narrow area which
causes safety concerns. Ms. Ellis said there
will still be game hunting at the southern end
of the Refuge. The way the regulations are
written allows deer, bear, moose, and cougar
hunting and turkey hunting will be added,
according to Ms. Ellis. Degradation hunts for
elk and deer will be allowed on the flats. Ms.
Ellis explained that there used to be only six
elk on the Refuge and there are now over 200.
Commissioner Dinning asked Ms. Ellis if she is
going to present this information to the
sportsman groups.
Commissioner Dinning said
his concern is in reducing the crop areas and
those present briefly spoke of trying to grow
equal amount of crops in and out of hunting
areas. Commissioner Dinning said he is looking
at this purely at the standpoint of birds and
improving the quality of hunting by leaving game
crops. Ms. Ellis said the southern end of the
Refuge doesn’t have as much waterfowl hunting,
but there will be more wetland management at the
south end now as the Nisqually Refuge sent over
farming equipment. Ms. Ellis said she is finding
out over the years the number of waterfowl
hunters have increased.
Ms. Ellis said the Refuge
has been growing spring barley, millet, and
winter wheat although almost all of the winter
wheat was lost this spring due to frost,
according to Ms. Ellis. Ms. Ellis said what the
birds don’t eat in the spring, they will eat in
the fall and where the elk punch the ground is
where you find birds eating.
Ms. Ellis said last year
the Refuge reported the number of visitors at
41,000 and this year the projection is
approximately 54,000. There have been visitors
from all over the country as the International
Selkirk Loop and Rand McNally Maps have been
advertising for the Kootenai National Wildlife
Refuge. Ms. Ellis said the Refuge has worked
closely with the Road and Bridge Department and
often times the Refuge competes for funding from
the Federal Highways Administration so she will
try to bring funds to the area. The Refuge has
been working with the Idaho Department of Fish
and Game and she mentioned hosting the 18th
Annual Outdoors Women’s Clinic, which introduced
participants to the shooting range, fly fishing,
etc. Ms. Ellis said there were over 40
participants in this event.
Chairman Smith said John
Meadows with the Kootenai Valley Sportsman’s
Association approached Commissioners about the
issue of combustible engines on small lakes.
There will be changes on small lakes, but not
the Kootenai
River
and the new regulations will mention the
Kootenai Tribe as exempted. This is nothing to
do with electric motors, according to Chairman
Smith.
Ms. Ellis said the Refuge
has had a successful youth program and just last
Friday a potluck lunch was held and involved
showing the parents around the Refuge.
Ms. Ellis and Ms. Richards
left the meeting at
10:30 a.m.
Chief Deputy Clerk Sue
Larson joined the meeting at
10:35 a.m.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to grant an extension of time to pay year 2007
taxes on parcel #RP60N01W244050A until
September 1, 2011. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chief Deputy Clerk Sue
Larson left the meeting at
10:36 a.m.
10:38 a.m., Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals
joined the meeting.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to go into closed session under Idaho Code
#31-871. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion
passed unanimously.
10:45 a.m., Commissioner Kirby moved
to go out of closed session. Commissioner
Dinning second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to approve indigent application #2011-48 as per
the Clerk’s recommendation. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to suspend indigent application #2011-49 as per
the Clerk’s recommendation. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to approve indigent application #2011-50 as per
the Clerk’s recommendation. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to deny indigent application #2011-8 as per the
Clerk’s recommendation. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to approve indigent application #2011-41 as per
the Clerk’s recommendation. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals
left the meeting at
10:50 a.m.
Commissioners tended to
administrative duties.
11:00 a.m., Planning and
Zoning Administrator Mike Weland briefly met
with Commissioners to discuss the map that will
be used during the public hearing to address the
Planning and Zoning Ordinance.
Mr. Weland left the meeting
at 11:06 a.m.
11:10
a.m., Boundary Community Hospital
CEO/CFO Craig Johnson and Boundary Community
Hospital Board of Trustees Chairman Elden Koon
joined the meeting to give a hospital matters
update.
Mr. Johnson said
financially the Hospital is still losing a bit
of money and it is due to low volume more than
anything, but that should turn around come fall
which is typical. The emergency room (ER) is
busy, according to Mr. Johnson. The nursing home
census is down, which is different from the
usual, but volume is down all over the State.
Chairman Smith said it is probably due to the
economy.
Mr. Johnson said a lot of
work has been done to get the electronic health
records system started and the Hospital should
go live in 15 days. Mr. Johnson said this system
is a huge change for doctors and it slows them
down tremendously so the Hospital will deal with
all of those aspects. The ER physicians are glad
this change is happening, but other staff is
apprehensive. The electronic health record
system will happen in phases and that will give
physicians a chance to become familiar with it.
Mr. Koon said nurses will be able to enter in
information right away and this system will help
eliminate illegible writing issues. There will
be bedside medication verification and Mr.
Johnson explained the scanning process to match
the medication, dosage, and patient. Mr. Johnson
said from a safety standpoint, this system is a
good aspect. There are workflow changes and even
though the system will be hooked up to generator
backup, there will obviously be glitches so
paper back up will be used.
Those present discussed
issues with providing qualified nurses or
paramedics on transports. Commissioner Dinning
said any input from the Hospital on ambulance
services will be helpful. Commissioner Dinning
mentioned hard economic times in relation to
forming an ambulance taxing district and Mr.
Johnson said this is the natural progression of
services. Mr. Johnson spoke of the increased
number of citizens in the area now. Mr. Johnson
said Commissioners will not want to be involved
in the operations of an ambulance district
although they will be the Board. Those present
discussed the transition of forming a taxing
district and Mr. Johnson said to just start now
and in a couple of years, the district would be
at the point where it is up and running. Mr.
Johnson said an ambulance service needs to come
to Commissioners with much more information
other than the ambulance association just wants
to form a district so the County can say this
makes so much sense and it should be done.
The meeting with Mr.
Johnson and Mr. Koon ended at
11:55 a.m.
There being no further
business for the remainder of the day or for
Tuesday, the meeting adjourned at noon.
/s/
RONALD R. SMITH, Chairman
ATTEST:
/s/
GLENDA POSTON, Clerk
By: Michelle Rohrwasser,
Deputy
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